Car-brake.



PATENTED APR. 18, 1905.

J. ROEDIGBR.

GAR BRAKE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 15,1904.

fiwe Jifioeaz UNITED STATES ii'atented April 18,1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

JACOB ROEDIGER, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO ST. LOUIS CAR COMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION.

CAR-BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 787,643, dated April 18, 1905.

Application filed July 15, 1904:. Serial No. 216,636.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J ACOB RonDIenR, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Brakes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings; forming part of this specification.

My invention relates generally to street-car brakes, and more particularly to means for uniting the hand-operated brake with the airbrake in order that said brakes may be used independently and yet utilizing but the single set of brake-rods. that are ordinarily made use of underneath the car-body.

Figure I is a view looking against the under sideof a car equipped with my improved brake and its connections. Fig. II is a longitudinal section taken approximately on line II II, Fig. I.

1 indicates the car-body, beneath one side of which is located the compressed-air tank 2, and adjacent said air-tank is the usual airbrake cylinder 3. The various compressedair pipes, valves, &c., are not shown in the drawings, as they may be of any ordinary construction and form no part of my inven tion.

Fulcrumed toone end of the air-brake cylinder 3 is a lever 4:, and operating through the opposite end ofsaid cylinder is a pistonrod 5, to which is pivotally attached a lever 6. A connecting-rod 7 is fulcrumed at one end to the lever 6 and pivotally attached at its opposite end to the lever 4. To one end of the lever 6 is pivotally attached one end of one of the usual brake-rods 8, its opposite end being connected in the usual .manner to the brake-beam. (Not shown.) The opposite v brake-rod 8 is at one end pivotally secured to one end of the lever 4.

9 indicates a lever that is pivoted at 10 to the under side of one of the side sills of the car-body, said lever extending transversely brake-rod 8 is secured, the opposite end of this chain being connected to the lever 9 at a point near the center thereof. The handbrake staffs 13 occupy the usual positions at the ends of the car-body, to which staffs are secured and upon which wind the brake-chains 14. To the opposite ends of these chains are secured the outer ends of rods 15, which extend longitudinally toward the center of the car, their inner ends terminating at points a slight distance from and on opposite sides of the end of the lever 9 that carries the sheave 11. Secured to the framework of the carbody in alinement with the end of the lever 9 carrying the sheave 11 is a pair of brackets 16. between which is journalcd a sheave or grooved roller 17. Secured to the inner end of one of the rods 15 is one end of a connecting-chain 18, that passes over the sheave 16, from thence to and over the sheave 11, and from thence to the inner end of the opposite rod 15, to which it is fixed.

When my improved brake is being operated by compressed air, said air is admitted into the cylinder 13 through the various valves and pipes of the usual air-brake system, and this air forces the piston carried by the piston-rod 5 outwardly and in turn moves the end of the lever 6 to which the chain 12 is attached outwardly toward the lever 9, said lever 6 during this movement fulcruming upon the end of the connecting-rod 7 to which it is attached. This movement through the medium of the brake-levers 1 and 6, together with the connecting-rods 7, necessarily brings the innor ends of the brake-rods 8 toward one another, with the result that the brake-shoes car ried by the ends of the brake-beams to which said brake-rods are attached are brought into frictional engagement with the peripheries of the car-wheels. It will be noted that during this movement the end of the lever 6 to, which the chain 12 is attached moves toward the lever 9, and as a result said lever and the connections to the hand-brake staffs are in no wise affected.

Should the air-supply in the tank 2 become exhausted while the car is in operation, the operator or driver of the car manipulates the handles on the brake-staffs 13 to perform the operation of braking the car. As eitherone of said brake-staffs is rotated in the usual manner the corresponding chain 14 is wound upon said brake-staff, and the corresponding brake-rod 15 is moved outwardly toward the end of the car. The chain 18 being moved by this movement of the brake-staff will travel around the sheaves 11 and 16, and the end of the lever 9 carrying the sheave 11 will move toward the sheave 16 as the brake-chain 14 is wound upon the rotating brake-staff. The lever 9 in thus swinging will correspondingly exert a pull upon the chain 12, thus swinging the brake-lever 6 in the same manner as previously described during'the operation of the air-brake, and as a result the brake-rods 8 will be drawn toward one another and the brakes set.

My improved construction is simple, being composed of a minimum number of parts. can be readily applied to brakes already in use upon street-cars, and permits of either brake being used independently of the other.

I claim as my invention 1. In a combined hand and air brake for cars, a brake-lever pivoted at one end to the carframe, a flexible connection from said lever to one of the air-brake levers, a sheave carried by the free end of the pivoted lever, a second sheave fixed to the car-body around which sheave passes the chain that connects the hand -brake rods, substantially as set forth.

2. In a car-brake, an air-brake mechanism, a hand-operated brake mechanism comprising a pair of brake-rods, asingle lever pivotally secured to the under side of the car-body, a

connection from said lever to one of the airbrake levers, and aflexib'le connection between the brake-rods of the hand-operated brake mechanism and connected to the-free end of 4 said single lever, substantially as described.

JACOB ROEDIGER.

In presence of H. VoGEL, A. DIEKMANN; 

